s at the top of the show, we asked you why are you awake chlgt rob has the answers. >> jeffrey writes, the battery warning on my smoke detector woke me awake. >> savinging lives. "morning joe" is up next. >> have you considered resigning? >> no. >> why not? >> because i feel that people i trusted, i'm not saying who, but i know what level have let me down. i think they behaved

disgracefully, betrayed the company and me and it's for them to pay. i think, frankly, i'm the best person to clean this up. this is the most humble day of my career. james and i would like to say how sorry we are for what has happened especially after listening to voice mails. saying sorry is not enough. things must be put right. no excuses. >> all right. good morning. it's wednesday, july 20th. it's kind of a foggy day in new york city. welcome to "morning joe." with us on set, mike barnicle. we have "morning joe" economist and tina brown.

the general's next war, we'll talk about that. >> there's only one thing to talk about. >> i done see what's so surprising about that. >> not if you know wendy. >> i thought she was great. >> gosh. >> her reaction was so much faster than everybody else. not only there, she goes back, hits the guy, falls down, gets up, then when he was leaving, he had the shaving cream all over him she shoved it in his face. >> amazing. so instinktive and wendy like. >> it's all in a day's work as a wife. >> everybody else is flinching. >> it was great. she wanted to protect her man and she went for him. that was great. >> thank god someone did. >> talk about her.

you all know her well. tell me about wendy. >> she is one of the most driven, focused, toughest people i have ever met. >> she's very direct. i find it beguiling. she's just going at it in a direct way. >> what do you mean? >> she will come out, ask what is on her mind, get right in your face. whatever she's thinking about. >> we gave an event for an art fair. she was like who is the guy putting this on. she has no social nonsense. she goes off the subject. >> she has limitless ambition. she started out with a house in china, with a dirt floor. now she's married to rupert

murdock. >> she's brought him more into the world. >> she's been good for him. >> i think so. >> she got him to wear black shirts and dye his hair. >> she's given him a lot of fun. >> this is not a fair question to ask tina, i'm going to ask you. how did james do? >> he sort of flinched. >> i'm not attracted to james at all. the buzz caught it. he doesn't have any of rupert's irony about himself. he's very humanless. i don't think he has staying power in the end. >> i understand that the father absolutely loves the son and dedicated to him. >> the father wants a dynasty. it looked like it was going to be lockland. that didn't work out.

james dropped out of college and there is a rock band. there's another side of him. >> that's the thing that privileged kids do. i don't think he's appealing at all. elizabeth is the smartest, the daughter. she is married to matthew freud. they are waiting in the wings. i think the dynamic aspect is done. >> you do? >> i do. >> i think the jury is out on that. >> really? >> the man controlled 39% of the voting stock in this company. he has $5 billion worth of stock. so focused on it. i think it's impossible for james to become ceo at this moment. but i don't think it's out of the question. >> you think murdock's can survive this? >> he owns 39% of the country, with a board. >> all of his friends.

>> half of them are his friends. >> they said we need to investigate this. >> not completely. on the one hand, tom perkins, the well-known venture firm has been supportive of him. the board hired independent council. it's a different world here. >> it is. >> you can't just roll over. >> they are losing so much money at the same time, too, mika. >> i think you saw the stock price go up after the hearing. they never conflict with rupert. i think he will sort of squeak by on this. i think james, i don't think he will end up being ceo. they have so many questions that are screaming to be answered. at the end of the day when they apologized for the firm tacking,

at the same time, they are paying the legal costs. how do you get out of that? you do not pay. >> both of you knew rupert murdock well. everybody around this table said rupert murdock controls every part of his empire. i'm a friend of his. i know him. they are not paying out without murdock knowing. this was one of his friends laughing about it saying not only did he know about the phone hacki ining calls, he probably listened to them. that's how involved he is in the company. >> he's a hands on manager. maybe i'm naive, but i would be surprised if he -- he didn't

want to know what's going on. it's not my problem kind of thing. it's his style. >> i have to beg to differ. yesterday, remember the gangster who pretended to be nuts and walked around in his bedroom slippers? i felt with rupert he was seeming to be this out of it old guy who is now removed from his empire. he's hands on. i don't know that he would know the detail. when he talked about phoning the editor of news of the world, did you ever ask about the $600,000 pound pay off. no, it didn't come up. i'm sure we would have known about that. he's hands on. when he said he would ask what's doing, he would say what's in the paper the next day. the second question is how did

you get it? he likes process. >> you think he didn't tell the truth? he was very careful to be remote from the truth. he didn't get involved. it may be that he's in detail. >> first of all, we should talk about the sign. how could the sup not have been. you bring him up and he's completely unkuched by anything else. let's listen to murdock testifying yesterday. >> did you close it because of the criminality? >> hmm? >> did you close it down because of the criminality? >> we felt ashamed of what happened. >> do you feel responsible for this fece as cal? >> no. who is responsible? >> the people i trusted and the

people they trusted. >> the buck stops with them. >> come on now. >> mike barnicle, he is, as tina said, people that know him he is hands on. if this was a conduct by news of the world by piers morgan forward through these people, he certainly couldn't have been able to know, could he? >> he's a man of many parts. he does not play the victim very well at all. he is not a victim here. yesterday, there were two elements of that story that are totally, totally propostrouse. one is the idea that rupert murdock and rebeka brooks never

asked a reporter hey, where did you get that story. tina has been an editor. i worked for an editor, it's propostrouse. the second idea is he sat there at the set of the company that he has his hands all over and didn't know about millions of dollars doled out to shut people up? >> hundreds of millions. >> it's an insult to our intelligence. if he didn't know, he's disconnected. but he did. >> steve, you think he didn't know about the hundreds of millions? >> i put it simply, the cover up is worse than the crime. to go in yesterday and have lied, i think would be arguably his biggest mistake his whole crisis. i'm prepared to believe he said he didn't know what he didn't

know. you have an elderly man who was posturing. i think he's beaten down and a shadow of his health. >> he is shattered by it. he cannot throw his son overboard. that makes it very, very emotionally complicated. at a point when he's become so global, so remote of the press coverage, he is experiencing, for the first time, really, he's had a controversial time, what it feels to be a victim of the blood sport. he is in a position where he is now being bombarded with abuse and unfairness, i'm sure at times. here is rebeka brooks complaining. well, get used to it. this is what she pilots year after year. she never cared. there's good pieces about people

from news of the world getting the story, come back, make it work. i don't care if you haven't got it. if you haven't got it, who cares. they do a phone hack and they get under tremendous stress to do so. >> whether murdock knew what happened or didn't, he didn't want to know, probably, if he didn't know what was happening. i think it's a problem for the board, ultimately. what they do, we'll see. >> how can you be the best person to deal with this, if you are presiding over this? it makes the clip we ran make no sense at all. >> let's go to washington. >> really quick. there's news out of washington as well. dualing debt plans. a vote largely along party lines, the house cut the cap and balance bill last night. afterward, a ohio republican

congressman and utah's jason who introduced the bill pressed the senate to take up a vote on the legislation. >> let's have the senate bring up this plan and have the vote. what are they afraid of? if you follow conventional wisdom, bring it up, we'll vote and debate. >> i think you are going to hear people say block that punt. this is a real, real plan that will solve the underlying problem. it's why you had such broad support. despite the push, cap and pal lance -- a new pro po sal is gathering support. ohio senator, coburn rejoined yet to help push the plan. the package reduced the deficit by $3.7 trillion, cut taxes over ten years.

implement $500 billion in immediate cuts, new revenue and simplify the tax code to three brackets. president obama appeared at yesterday's white house briefing to praise the proposal saying it was close to his deficit goals. he urged lawmakers to move forward to a final deal. >> we now have a bipartisan group of senators who agree with the balanced approach and we have the american people who agree with the balanced approach. my hope and what i will be urging speaker boehner and nancy pelosi as well as leader reid and mitch mcconnell is that they, tomorrow, are prepared to start talking turkey and actually getting down to the hard business of crafting a plan that can move this forward. >> oh. >> steve. talk about this gang of six proposal.

does it -- the president likes it. tom coburn likes it. what do you think? >> it's a terrific potential step forward. it could be the grand bargain we all hoped for. it's similar to the bouls-simpson proposal. it increases revenue by $1 trillion over seven years. it's a balance between 75% spending cuts and revenue increases. it simplifies the tax holes. the question now is whether it can overcome the house republicans on a mission, as we know. >> if it passes the senate, mike barnicle, the chances are good that in the house you are going to find enough democrats and republicans in the middle to get this thing passed. >> why do i think, though, the gang of six proposal is going to

mean a short term increase in the debt ceiling and they are going to say this is so good and so complex we are going to have to take time to study it. >> yes. >> that's the bigger problem with this proposal. in the end, they just kick, as the president said, kick the can down the road. >> it's interesting tomcoburn, the guy known as dr. no, he's blocked hundreds of bills. he comes in, i would love to know who beat him. >> i don't think anybody beat him. >> you don't beat tom coburn on anything. >> he's been terrific on this. he's one of the few republicans willing to stand-up and say we have to compromise. you are right. you cannot implement the bill in the two weeks we have left, 12 days we have left until the expiration. what they could do is a short-term extension, a month, where you could flex the bill

out and get it done and keep the gun to someone's head. >> the president has to do that, whether it's one or two months, he's going to have to. if you are going to make these changes, you have to go to committee chairmen and women and say fix this. >> these are the most sweeping budget and tax changes since reagan, maybe more. they are dramatic. it would be wonderful if we could make progress on it. >> the tom coburn thing is interesting. we keep hearing there is a very strong relationship between senator coburn and president obama stemming from their days together in the senate. there's some indication the president reached out to senator coburn to try to get him more actively involved on this and he jumped in. >> it shows how the personal relationships still are so incredibly important. >> they matter. also having somebody who is not

afraid of party leaders. tomcoburn i can tell you, going back to his house days, he's a conservative guy, but a fiscal conservative and he is, he is just a bs attacker. as conservative as he is, republicans have loathed him. >> because he's -- you can't tell what he's going to do. >> right. he's not afraid of them. if grover demanded a lot of people in washington says we cant raise taxes, tom wants to balance the budget. you know, that's the one thing that's sort of underreported in this, really quickly, then we have to go to break. two groups of us. we all hated taxes. there were those of us who made that the center of everything

else and the other half of us said yes, we hate taxes, but we hate deficits more. tom and i, other people were on that side of the equation. you are seeing that right now. you are seeing that split. tom says i hate taxes but you know what i hate more? looking like greece. >> exactly. >> maturity is about making a deal. >> going to dig into the wall street journal polls including what americans want out of the debt negotiations. se talk to chris van hollen, mart martin bashir. very mysterious. also john goodman will be on set. up next, the politico playbook. let's go to bill karins with a check on the forecast. bill. good morning. a historical heat wave under way from canada to the gulf and the rockies to the east coast.

the worst in the midwest and sneaking into the ohio valley. it's not just hot, but humid. it felt like 120 in minneapolis. today, chicago is under that warning for heat. our friends in indianapolis and philadelphia. it's all going to head to the east. today, not that humid. still hot. 90 to 95 from boston to d.c. the worst of the heat in the country near 100 from st. louis to chicago. our friends in minneapolis, in the middle of the heat wave. you are watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. [ female announcer ] goodnight gluttony, a farewell long awaited. goodnight, stuffy. goodnight, outdated. goodnight old luxury and all of your wares.

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this is governor rick perry. i'm inviting you to join your fellow americans on a day of prayer and fasting on behalf of our nation.

with the economy in trouble, community in crisis and people drifting in a sea of moral relativism. we need your help. >> he knows prayer is the only way to fix our problems, folks. he told a group of donors with the troubles facing americans, it's time to hand it over to god and say god, you are going to have to fix this. inspiring words. perry looked at our problem squarely in the eye and said i got nothing. jump in anytime here. >> time now to take a look at the morning papers at 25 past the hour. we start with "the new york times." the state of arizona looking for increased border security. it will seek donations from every day americans to help pay for a complete fence along the mexico border. >> wow. >> yeah. a buying frenzy drove profits at apple 125%. quarterly numbers fueled by

worldwide sales of 20 million iphones and some millions of ipad twos. it looks like it may be going forward into china. that doesn't hurt, either. new york daily news. david letterman and harrison ford were seen riding horseback through town. it's interesting how the new york papers are covering the tabloids. >> mike barnicle holds the daily news up. >> there you go. that's the cover. new york post, my god, they would be all over it. >> amazing. oh, what? >> that doesn't look like murdock. >> you can find the murdock story here on page 42, 37 -- >> really? >> didn't owe know the mother

had an affair with dsk? it seems the mother is the latest dsk lady -- the mother of the girl in france came forward and said -- >> oh, good lord. you know what -- >> i'm not going to do that segway. it would be so grossly different from the main story. let's bring in mike allen from politico. mike, sort of getting nasty. >> oh, this is something. >> in south florida. my gosh, what is going on? >> yesterday, debby schultz, the congresswoman from florida, the chair of the democratic national committee said a fellow republican tea partier should not be cutting medicare and medicaid from florida. he then fired off an e-mail to her and ccd republican and

democratic leaders and bcc. >> want me to read the e-mail? >> go ahead. you want a personal fight, i am happy to oblige. you are the most vile, unprofessional and despicable person of congress. say it to my face otherwise, shut the heck up. you have proven repeatedly you are not a lady, therefore shall not be afforded due respect from me. >> mike, what in the world did she say to bring about this response? >> first of all, joe, are there rules against this? you certainly couldn't say this on the floor. you cannot attack another member on the floor, rikt? >> not on the house floor. things like this aren't usually e-mailed around, either. >> that doesn't help with the swing voters. >> exactly. he's really jump started a democratic opponent who is going

to run against him this time. he was a freshman this time. emily's list is out. they say they are going to use paid advertising, mail, e-mail, everything at their disposal to blow up this incident to bring it to everyone's attention. it's certainly going to help the fund raising of his opponent. they say this is really, ugly, sexist and i think it's going to be used more broadly. >> mike, am i right in an odd twist, he lives in congressman schultz's district? >> you are. it's a rough neighborhood. >> how weird is that? >> that is strange. >> he's a constituent as well as an attacker. >> the heat. >> mike allen, thank you. coming up, first murdock, now david cameron's turn to appear

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this is not an excuse. maybe it's an explanation. the news of the world is less than 1% of our company. i employ 53,000 people around the world. we have a proud and great and ethical distinguished people. >> i would like to add my own personal apologies to the apologies james murdock made today. clearly, what happened at "news of the world" and the allegations is pretty horrific. >> tina? it's how these people got paid for decades. >> yes. >> everybody up there knows it. everybody up there feeding them

stories so they wouldn't write nasty stories about them. >> how is that not right? >> rebeka brooks? i think she's a piece of work. i think she's a very opportunistic lady. she really is. she has very little press ethic of any kind. she's not really a journalist, in a sense. >> thank you. thank you. >> this came up from the features desk. come up any way you can. i'm not against that. she's had too much too soon in terms of her responsibility. she was ceo overseeing this madhouse. >> now acting offending. they put they own a horse and they don't. please. >> the incredible thing was she won a protection racket. she was socializing and tapping

their phones and in on their private lives. people were so afraid. they knew they were hacking her phones and still went to the parties. there was such a fear. >> rupert murdock put her in that job? >> she was his girl. >> david cameron is expected to speak in front of parliament hoping to stop further damage to the government from the scandal. joining us from london, martin fletcher with the latest. martin. >> hi, mika. damage control is going to happen in parliament. the meeting in parliament was supposed to begin within a minute or so of now. it's an emergency session in parliament. the star is prime minister david cameron. he's going to try to take control of this. he's going to face a grilling. why did he hire the foreman in the first place, despite warnings.

how much did he know about the phone hacking and when did he know it? the question, how much did he know and when. anyone in the staff and the role in getting the police to drop or turn down the earlier investigation in the phone hacking. you'll face questions. you met murdock, the top staff. the key issue is, did corruption in murdock's newspaper spread in any form to turn down? it's going to be a fasz nating session. >> that grilling has just begun. let's listen to david cameron. getting the economy moving. helping with the cost of living, protecting from terrorism. so let me set out the action that we have taken. we now have a well led police investigation which would examine criminal behavior by the media and corruption by the police.

we have a judicial inquiry. establish what went wrong, why and what we need to do to ensure it never happens again. on the first prime minister to publish meetings with media editors, proprietors, senior executors to bring complete transparency to the relationship between government and the media, stretching back to the general election. speaking so clearly about the revulsion of the phone hacking allegations helped to cause the end of the news corp. -- >> okay. >> we have to get the feed back. we have martin fletcher back. this is a speech where david fletcher is setting the scene -- we have it back? let's go back. >> the key questions raised about my role and that of my

staff. so first, first, the judicial inquiry and the panel of experts who will assist it. those experts will be the civil liberties campaigner and director of liberty. the former chief constable, the former chairman, the long-serving political editor of channel 4 news, goodman and the political editor of the daily telegraph and the press association, george jones and the former chairman of the financial times. these people have been chosen not only for their expertise in the media, broadcasting, regulation and policing but their complete independence from the interested party. this is bigger. i also said last week that the inquiry will proceed in two parts and i set out a draft term of reference.

we consulted with the lord justice, the opposition, chairs of relevant committees and the administrations. i also talked to the family of the hacked off campaign. we made significant amendments of the inquiry. with allegations, the problem of the relationship to the press and the police go wider than that. we have agreed other relevant forces are within the scope of the inquiry. we have agreed the inquiry should consider not just the relationship between the press, police and politicians, but their individual conduct, too. we also made clear that the inquiry should look not just the press, but other media organizations including broadcasters and social media, if there's everything they have been involved in criminal activities. the final terms of reference. lord justice leverson and the panel will get to work immediately. they will aim to make a report

within 12 months. mr. speaker, there should be no doubt this inquiry is ro bust, fully independent and the lord justice will be able to summon witnesses under oath. let's turn to the extraordinary events over the past few days. on sunday, stephenson resigned as commissioner of the police. i want to thank him for the work he's carried out over many, many years in london and elsewhere. on monday, assistant commissioner john yates resigned to express my gratitude for the work he's done in improving response to terrorism. >> we are listening to david cameron. you obviously are an observer of british politics. how much danger is this new, young prime minister in over the murdock scandal? s i don't think he's in serious danger. there's speculation in the press today and among the observers of

the trial in the event that is he could, this could reach him and it could sweep him from government. seems to be no real possibility of that happening, unless it turns out he knew more about the hacking scandal and more about the investigation of the police than he's letting on. we'll find that out. it's under severe, under the microscope. what he says now is going to be tough questions following his speech. what struck me is when he said he's going to call for complete transparency between media and government. >> wow. >> it's what the public is calling for. >> can you imagine? >> it is interesting he early on published the number of meetings he had with members of the press. are other politicians following him? craig and the rest of his government followed him? >> they are keeping their distance, i think. this is a very, very sensitive

moment in british parliamentary history. it's a fascinating time. the leader of the opposition is coming out quite well. until the last events of the scandal, it was looking weak. he's coming, standing firm on this calling for investigation of everybody and taking it as far as it goes if that includes the prime minister, they will be delighted. i hope, i don't know, i assume his head will not roll as a result of this. maybe other parliamentary heads will. >> we appreciate it. mika. >> david camera continues. we'll talk after. >> they are looking into police careers and i want to see radical closures to bring in fresh leadership. the government is introducing crime commissioners ensuring

there's an individual holding local -- we need to see -- we need to see if we can extend that to the operational side, too. why should all police officers have to start at the same level? why shouldn't someone with a different skill set join the police force in a different role? why shouldn't someone who has been a proven success overseas help us turn over a force here at home? these are questions we should ask to get the greater transparency and the stronger governance we need in britain's policing. let me turn to the specific questions i have been asked in recent days. first, it has been suggested that my chief of staff was behaving wrongly when he didn't take up the commissioneruate's offer to be briefed on police investigations. i have said repeatedly about the police investigation they should pursue the evidence where ever it leads and arrest exactly who

they wish. that is exactly what they have done. number ten is the exchange between my chief of staff and john yates. the reply to the police made clear it would not be appropriate to give me or my staff any privileged briefing. the reply that he sent -- the reply that he sent was cleared in advance by my permanent secretary jeremy hayward. just imagine mr. speaker if they had done the opposite. if they had asked for receiving privileged information, even if there is no intention to use it. there would have been justified outrage. to risk any perception that number ten was seeking to influence a police investigation

in any way would have been completely wrong. mr. yates backed his judgment yesterday indeed as john yates said the offer was properly rejected. the cabinet secretary and the chair of the committee have both backed that judgment, too. next, there is the question as to whether the code was broken in relation to the merger and meetings with news international executives. the cabinet secretary -- >> as we continues, obviously, we are waiting for the head of the labor party to start the grilling. as we listen to david cameron, at least at first blush, he's very good. >> he's excellent. >> at damage control. he will lease his meetings immediately. he looks like he is trying to get in front of this. >> i don't think it's going to

cause long-term damage to cameron. i think he is doing extremely well. it's been great to hear him for a moment. the reason there's such energy behind all of this is just such a frustration of the last 30 years, in a sense, of this collusion between the news international and the murdock press and the pressure on these guys. all the successive prime ministers. >> isn't there a collusion among the entire ruling class in great britain? it's a small, small society. it is one city that runs everything. john heilman said he was there three years. he was shocked. he said everybody goes to two colleges. everybody knows what everybody has done since they were 12 years old. it is a tight, tight, closed society. >> it is tight. it's been a kind of different privileged elite.

it's really about the news international press, you know, with the government, in a sense, dictating their whole agenda. it's them against us. >> he's talking about -- let's take a listen real quick. >> i have an old fashioned view about innocent until proven guilty. if it turns out i have been lied to, that would be a moment for a profound apology. in that event, i can tell you, i will not fall short. my responsibilities are for hiring him and for the work he did. on the work he did, i will repeat, perhaps not for the last time, his work has not been the subject of any serious complaint. of course, he left months ago. on the decision to hire him, i believe i have answered every question about this. it was my decision. hold on. it was my decision, i take

responsibility. people will, of course -- >> interrupting the prime minister. the house must come to order and hear the remainder of the statement. the prime minister. >> people will make judgments about it. of course i regret and i am extremely sorry with the fury it caused. with 20/20 hindsight, i would not have offered him the job and i expect he wouldn't have taken it. you don't make decisions in hindsight. you make them in the present. you live and you learn and believe me, i have learned. now i look forward to answering any and all questions about these issues. following the statement, i will open the debate. the greatest responsibility i have is to clear up this mess. let me finish by saying this. there are accusations of criminal behavior by parts of the press and potentially the

police where the most rapid and decisive action is required. there are issues of excessive closeness to media groups and owners where labor has to make a fresh start. there is is history of committee reports, information commissioner reports missed by the last government and missed by the official opposition, too. what the public expects is not petty political point scoring -- [ cheers and applause ] >> what they want, what they deserve is action to rise to the level of events and pledge to work together to solve this issue once and for all. it is in that spirit that i commend this statement to the house. >> there you go. prime minister david cameron. >> hold on. we have to go back. this is the best part. >> they are going to start questioning him now. >> mr. speaker for his statement, recalling parliament

was the right thing to do because rebuilding trust in the press, police and politics is essential for our society. the most powerful institutions in the land must show the responsibility we expect from everybody else. that is why the country wants answers from those involved in the crisis. those responsible can be held to account so we as a country can move forward as the prime minister mentioned in his statement. i welcome lord leverson's inquiry and the announcement of the term of reference. i welcome the prime minister's agreement with us about the press complaints that need to be replaced. it's why i welcome the apology from rupert murdock and the withdrawal of the bskyb bid.

going forward, the leadership can focus on the vital work that is necessary. we are beginning to see answers given and responses taken to move forward. i have a number of questions for the prime minister. the prime minister said in his statement -- >> i said a minute ago, the remainder of the statement should be heard in silence. order. i say the same to members who are now heckling. think of what the public thinks of our behavior. order. and stop it without delay. >> mr. speaker let me start with bskyb. he said on a number of occasions

he was excluded from the formal decision making process. it doesn't answer the questions he's been asked. last friday, he revealed since taking office, he met representatives of news international or news corp. on 26 separate occasions. the first question i have for the prime minister is whether he can assure the house that the bskyb bid was not raised in any meetings or phone calls with those organizations. or he can say if he discussed the bid or any officials discussed the bid with the officials of the culture secretary. let me turn now, ten days ago, the prime minister said his decision to employ, i wasn't given specific information that would lead me to change my mind. mr. speaker, the country has the

right to expect the prime minister would have made every effort to uncover the information to protect himself and his office. the pattern of events suggest the opposite. the prime minister and those around him made every effort to hear the facts. in the last week, we have been aware of the opportunities of prime minister or his staff to have acted on specific information that would surely have led him to change his mind or decline. his chief of staff was told in february, 2010, that he hired a convicted criminal to work at the news of the world accused of making payments to police on behalf of the newspaper. rebeka brooks said this decision was extraordinary. the prime minister's chief of

staff did nothing with the information. in may, 2010, the prime minister warned the prime minister about bringing him to downing street. he did nothing. on september 1, 2010, "the new york times" published an investigation quoting multiple sources saying he knew about hacking at the news of the world. we know from john yates, that was enough to lead the police to reopen their inquiries and led to operation wheating. we know now, it triggered the termination of the metropolitan contract, the former deputy of the news of the world. it led to the offer for the prime minister to be briefed. the cabinet secretary said it was right. the question is why. because it would be -- because

the prime minister was compromised by his relationship. therefore could not be told anything at all about an investigation concerning a member of his own staff. he was ham strung by a conflict of interest. mr. speaker, mr. speaker, the prime minister shouldn't have had to rely on briefings from his chief of staff. here was a major investigation, published by leading global newspaper about the prime minister's director of communication. mr. speaker, mr. wallace wasn't mentioned in the article, because of the associations he has and the publication of the article. what did the prime minister do? he did nothing. mr. speaker, mr. speaker, given "the new york times" evidence, the public will rightly have expected very loud alarm bells

to ring in the prime minister's mind. apparently, he did nothing. then in october, the prime minister's chief of staff was approached again by the guardian about the serious evidence they had about his behavior. once more, nothing was done. mr. speaker, this can't be put down to gross incompetence. it was a deliberate attempt to hide from the facts. >> order! order. members shouting out shouldn't be doing so. calm themselves. keep on an even keel. it's better for your health. go ahead. >> the prime minister was caught in a tragic conflict of loyalty between the integrity that people should expect of him and his staff and personal

allegiance. he made the wrong choice. he chose to stick with mr. coleson. mr. speaker, sir, my second question is, can he now explain -- can he now explain why he failed to act on clear information and why those around him built a wall of silence between the facts and prime minister. mr. speaker, the conflict of interest has real effects. the metropolitan police commissioner resigned on sunday. they didn't talk about the reasons of the resignation. we must talk about it. he was trapped. he was trapped between a secretary angry at not being told about the hiring of mr. coleson's deputy and belief in his own words that doing so would have compromised the prime minister. compromised him because of mr. coleson. why did he think that? because his own deputy, john

yates was told by the prime minister's chief of staff that he was told nothing. this error of judgment, hiring coulson, hanging on to him too long contributed to the decision he found himself in and his decision to resign. my third question, mr. speaker, does the prime minister accept that his conflict of interest for the metropolitan police commissioner in an impossible position? three questions are about bskyb, the warnings that were ignored and the met commissioner. these and many other questions will have to be answered by the prime minister over the coming months. there is one -- now. he says in hindsight -- he says in hindsight he made a mistake

by hiring mr. coulson. he says if he lied to him, he would apologize. mr. speaker, that isn't good enough. because people -- people -- it's not about hindsight, mr. speaker. it's not about whether mr. coulson lied to him. it's about the information and warnings they ignored. >> you are looking at a live shot from parliament. >> incredible. >> an incredible inquiry into david cameron's -- let's continue. we'll comment with tina brown and the panel after. >> a full apology now for hiring mr. coulson and bringing him to the heart of downing street. >> prime minister. >> what i would say to the gentleman is stop hunting feeble conspiracy theories and start rising to the level of events.

most of that was just a tissue of totally -- first of all, let me thank him for recalling parliament. i think lord leverson will do a good job. i have to say, on most of the other questions, i feel he wrote the questions before he heard my statement today. he asks, he asks about the issue of -- he asks about the issue of bskyb. they said there was no breach of the code. you heard -- you heard the evidence of rebecca wade saying there was not one single inappropriate conversation. when it comes to setting up meetings with news corporation, i set out every single meeting since the last election. the gentleman published a list this morning.

it does not go back to the last election. indeed, when are we going to see the trance parn si from tony blare and gordon brown? second -- second -- second issue. the second issue, his questions about nickolson. >> order. the house is getting excited again. we want to listen to what the prime minister has to say. >> questions about coulson. let me remind him, no one raised a single question about his conduct. let's just make this point. there is only today, one party leader with a news international executive with a cloud in his head in his office. third question, the questions he raises about my chief of staff,

is he honestly saying when it comes to this issue of the proposed issue request john yates, is he suggesting he knows better than the chairman, that you know paul stephenson, all these people, including jeremy hayward who worked for tony blare and gordon brown? is he saying all those people are wrong and he is right? that shows a staggering judgment. let me answer the question about the resignation. i know it is inconvenient, but he set out the reasons for his resignation yesterday in detailed evidence and explained how the situation was so different to the number ten downing street. he answered, the parallels of the police.

on closeness to media groups, let's be clear what we heard. murdock said the politician i was closest to was gordon brown. that is just -- let us just remember, who was the adviser when gordon brown was the chancellor. >> overexcitable. we want to hear the answers given by their own prime minister. prime minister. >> let us remember, mr. speaker who was the adviser to gordon brown when he was chancellor? the right honorable gentleman. on the issue of the action we have taken, let us remember, reports of the information commissioner ignored. reports ignored. the failure of the police investigation, ignored. we now know exactly which party was, if you like, the slumber party. it was the party of everyone. frankly, everyone can see exactly what he is doing and

attempt to play this for party advantage. the problem has been taking place over many years. the problem is for both our main parties and the problem is one that the public expects us to stop playing with and rise to the occasion and deal with it for the good of the country. >> order. mr. david davis. >> under the previous government, when my friend was arrested by the police, the prime minister was not notified of the details of that investigation. at the time, the labor bench insisted they were not told. is it not therefore the case, not only has he not done wrong, he's done what a public servant should do. >> wow. >> mika actually wants to keep playing this all day.

tina brown, it's fascinating. it is fascinating. you listen to david cameron's opening remarks. >> defiant. >> and very impressive. then you hear the response of the labor party. he's got him dead to center, then cameron's response -- >> fired back. >> fired back. >> great stuff. great classic stuff. it's great. cameron was impressive on his feet as a superb debater. he has one very, very weak point here. it's that he was totally apprise of everything about him being a very, very dangerous appointment. in news week this week, the editor of the guardian writes about the coulson record and did they know they had a criminal.

>> that would be a devastating charge. but as they replied, before we came in, gordon brown, tony blare, all of you had a very, very chummy relationship with the press. we all knew of these things before. he called them the quote, slumber party. >> wonderful line. >> david cameron and the conservative government did many things that were inappropriate. it's the way the labor party did it before. it's the way they have run in the post war world. >> tony blare is one of the worst. he had a huge majority. he really did. you know, we have a piece in news week that actually, the first person tony blare used to call out of conferences were

murdock to get his input. >> really? >> he used to put them behind the cabinet at the party conference. it was -- however, it shows ho desperate cameron was to get murdock on his side. he hired coulson because it brought the murdock papers. >> you say desperate. obviously, not a wise move in retro spect. if he thinks he contained the murdock papers like tony blare believes -- >> it's why he hired coulson. >> he was warned about so many things. he knew he resigned because of the phone hacking. without coulson he doesn't get the phone hacking.

>> mika wants to stay there. they are asking the prime minister questions. let's go to washington and talk to democratic congressman from maryland, representative chris van hollen. chris, things seem so placid in washington. >> and polite. except that one e-mail. >> i was going to say, they are making our budget debate look tame and boring. >> very, very boring. let's talk about the news that broke yesterday. the senate gang of six budget plan. there are some specifics. mainly just guide posts. what do you and the house leadership on the democratic side think of this? >> i give these guys a lot of credit for coming together around the table in a bipartisan way to hammer things out. we are taking a close look at it. as you said, there are a lot of details that have not come out.

the overall framework mirrors what the president was trying to do. in some ways what the speaker of the house was apparently trying to do, get a big deal in a balanced way. so, that's the good news. again, the details still have to come out and senator durbin, a member of the gang of six said yesterday, they don't have legislative language. the question is, you know, what can be done between now and august 2nd, if anything with the plan or do we need to continue to proceed with a back-up plan, plan b. >> chris, i was going to ask earlier, last hour to steve rattner who was here and suggested if the plan were to go forward, there would have to be a month or two month extension to allow the committee chairman and chairwoman in the house and senate to do their business. this would be the most dramatic reform of entitlement since the

reagan era. there would have to be an extension of time for the debt ceiling, would there not? >> i think it's right. we would have to work out some interim arrangement to proceed down that road. again, exactly what the time line would be and that question would remain to be seen. the good news is this provides some additional momentum to the idea of getting something big done. again, haven't seen every detail and wouldn't agree with every detail, but the overall concept takes us in the right direction. >> in the right neighborhood, we are talking a $3.7 trillion deal. it's not perfect. it's not going to make either side happy. if we could get close to $4 trillion in debt reduction, that would send a good signal to the markets for some time. >> the only thing i question, steve rattner, is if there's an

interim that we don't need? >> the market yesterday was excited about the plan. the stock market had a great day. the stock market is going to start with another good day today. the market is excited there may be a break in the gridlock. if the market were told, look, it's another month or two, but this is where we are going, the market would be fine with that. my question for the congressman is yes, there are a lot of details we don't know. this is similar to simpson. we know what is in this plan. do you think that -- do you think that you can get these house republicans to break from the pledge they have all taken? >> that is the question. as we heard on the floor of the house yesterday during debate, they have not moved off this point, which is you cannot have one penny coming from either closing tax loopholes or raising revenues somewhere else go for the purpose of deficit reduction.

of course, that's exactly what this gang of six plan does. it raises approximately $1 trillion. it does it by reducing the rates and closing loopholes and taking down popular deductions. that does violate what the house republicans have said. >> congressman, that leads the next question, obviously. i'm sure you have been talking about it a good bit. if you don't get the republican freshmen, are there going to be enough democrats to work together with john boehner and republican chairman and chairwoman and other leaders in the caucus to get the 218 votes you need to pass this, if it passes the senate? >> here is the point. people need to digest what is in there. we still haven't seen the full plan. yesterday, a lot of us were call over to senator conrad and they said the detail is forthcoming.

it's really hard to get our caucus, to focus on this without some of the detail because -- >> that's certainly understandable. i guess the question, though, that you will be asked if you push for any deal with these broad outlines from members of your own democratic caucus would be why are we doing the republican freshman's work for them? why are we taking the tough votes and allowing them to go home and demagogue against democrats who run against them about how they were too pure to vote to increase the debt ceiling? >> well, that debate certainly will go on within the democratic caucus. i think the overwhelming majority of our caucus want to make sure america can pay its bills after august 2nd. in fact, a big chunk of our caucus said, without any

conditions let's raise the debt ceiling. so, i think our guys want to do what most of us think is the responsible thing, to say the united states has to pay for the bills for obligations we have incured. these are bills that need to be paid on decisions congress made in the past, right or wrong. so, just like no family can wake up one day and decide, you know, i'm not going to pay that bill, i'm only going to pay that bill, i think our members on the democratic side are prepared to deal with that question. whether they are prepared to accept something along the lines of the gang six proposal will depend on the details. it's important to get them quickly. senator durbin said it himself the other day, we are not going to be able to squeeze that whole plan into debate between now and august 2nd. we recognize that. the question is going to be, do you do something short term, you know? the downside is it puts you on a

month-to-month potentially on the debt ceiling. >> yeah. >> that can create uncertainty. let's see where it takes us in the next 48 hours. we still need to proceed with plan b in case this thing unravels. >> all right. congressman chris van hollen. thanks for being with us. what do you say we have president's hour on the floor of the house? >> i would like to have the debt discussed that way. fabulous. >> thank you, chris. >> thank you so much. i think the devil is in the details, steve rattner, but at least we have an outline that we can move forward on. you have tom coburn, barack obama and john boehner in that territory. it may be good. >> i worry as people see the details,itis going to get worse, not better.

they are going to lose their deduction for state and local taxes. this program is going to be cut. instead of focusing on the whole thing saying it's a step forward, people are going to pick on the things they don't like. it would be amazing if we could get this down. it's daunting. >> we have had so much legislation crashed in this kind of crazy fashion. as you say, the picking and negotiation and so on when the spotlight goes off. that is the key. how do you keep that momentum in the positive direction, as you say. >> you have to focus on the whole. pieces of this i don't like that i wouldn't want to do but you have to accept the whole as being better than the pieces. coming up, chuck todd will be with us to break down the nbc wall street journal polls. also, we are going to continue to monitor the back and forth of the hacking scandal in the british har limit. martin bashir joins us from london. we'll be right back.

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live pictures from parliament in london where the fireworks started at the get go as david cameron has been testifying. peter alexander is joining us now. we have the host of msnbc, martin bashir. where do we begin? what a display of emotion on both sides. and defiance. >> defiance on cameron's part. ed came in with very damaging questions, a damaging line of questions. then cameron came back with a good bit of evidence that this is how business was done with

brown, blare. the entire group has been this way for some time. explain british politics and the british press. >> what you have seen is a antagonistic -- when they throw questions at the prime minister, the prime minister is able to say of your 32 lunches with the media, 11 were with mr. murdock and his company. all of this reveals the fact that people like michele bachman, mitch mcconnell, this is what happensed in this country. in 1998, murdock bought a

newspaper, government got out of the way. then he bought a second, a third and a fourth. then a satellite television company. people began to wake toup the fact his power base in the country was bigger than anybody else. you had a hilarious moment when asked about the committee about his reactions with cameron. he was one of the first advertise tors to 10 downing street. if you read campbell's diaries, the press secretary to tony blair, he says we ushered in mr. murdock through the back door. the fight you are seeing in the house this morning is all around the fact that this individual was incredibly powerful. many of these politicians formed over him. they believe he was able to swing general elections with the

newspapers he owns and that's why this has been such an aggressive and i'm watching some of it now, fairly aggressive and antagonistiy in the house. >> people running for office, the toxic atmosphere that could be created that was created apparently with the usage of these newspapers and now the element of perhaps the bully has been hit and he's on his knees, the murdock empire. what has that done to british culture, society and politics? >> well, when you realize that many of these newspapers were using illegal methods, felonious methods, you realize people's private medical records were stolen and information

published. people's phones were hacked and private information published. they had private detectives working on behalf of them. they paid police officers. what that meant was, if there were any id owe sin kra sis in your cupboard, they would be found by mr. murdock's papers. if you weren't on good terms with him or he didn't like your political position, your life would be extremely difficult. that's why all the politicians at every summer party that rupert murdock hosted, including this year, every politician that was anyone attended the party. there was a sense that everybody was subject to the influence of this man. it's been amazing. the last ten days, you could count before ten days ago on the fingers of one hand the number of politicians who stood up to rupert murdock. now, they are treating him as

though he's got contagious lep ra si. >> amazing. >> it's poisoned the environment. it's not just the poll titician. it's the case. the metropolitan police has 45 press offices. ten of them worked for news international. that's 25% of the metropolitan police. >> unbelievable. >> that's the kind of influence we are talking about here. >> incredible influence. a little color here. i have a new hero. >> who is that. >> i need him here. >> who's that? >> the order, order guy. isn't he fabulous? yes. yes. >> he is wonderful. >> apparently, he gives up political authority when he takes office. here he is. he can yell at everybody and tell them to be quiet.

>> i think there's a need to get a heckling costume. >> i think he's the speaker. >> i think joe scarborough has a bit of him in him? >> no, no, no. >> a little bit. just a little. >> so, what becomes of the cozy relationship between the british press and the british politicians and what we were talking about with tina brown how this entire country is so wired in london. >> yeah. >> everybody is so, it's so -- is that ever going to change in politics? >> it's going to change, joe. trust has been badly diminished in the country. trust in a civic society. politicians, the press and the police. as far as the public is concerned, have been corrupted in a very, very profound way. that means this story has gone beyond the role of rupert

murdock. he's begging questions that members of the public have been meaning to ask of the institutions of state. that's why everybody is holding inquiries. there are three separate criminal investigations. there's also the prospect of further investigations into individual members of the police service. we have had two of the most senior resign. this venting is going to continue because a society without trust is profoundly diminishesed. that's one of the issues many are concerned about here. people feel that the press has been owned by this massive media mogul. the police have been bought and politicians falling over the media mogul and persuaded by his largest to be -- to lead the country. >> that's a reality, isn't it?

it's reality, if you look at it. they figured out how to wire scotland yard and parliament and 10 downing street. rupert murdock has been for some time, the most powerful man in britain. >> when you see this frail man yesterday objectly incapable of following the facts, unable to remember the names and certain facts, well, i'm afraid there was something on the part of journalists. they know him to be aggressive, particular, specific. remember, i was mentioning earlier in piers morgan's diaries, he worked for rupert murdock for 18 months and he rang him every week of every month for 18 months. >> martin -- >> yes he says he knew nothing.

>> are you surprised more questions haven't been raised about the passage from peer morgan's book where he talks about phone hacking and brags about how you can do it? >> no, i'm not surprised. he doesn't say he does it. what he says in the book, if you read it carefully, this is important. he said, he heard about this phenomena and he therefore personally changed his own cell phone numbers in order to prevent that from happening. he never asserted he would do that. >> i did read it carefully, martin, not as carefully as you because i can't do anything as carefully as you -- >> don't be ridiculous. >> i'm just a dumb country lawyer. martin, thank you for being with us. we appreciate it. >> it's a great pleasure to be with you, joe. thank you. >> have fun following parliament there. it's fascinating. >> incredible.

>> i have read piers morgan and it's damming. look at the tone. it's almost bragging. let me tell you, here is the trick of the trade. >> you are headed there this weekend? >> frankly, i'm going there because it's one year out to the london olympics. what's memorable is there's a royal wedding they say was flawless. a couple months later, the brass is gone and the world is on the way to london. >> you are on your way to a big story. up next, chuck todd will join us. we'll be right back with more "morning joe." >> this of what the public thinks of our behavior. order. and stop it without delay. order! [ p.a. announcer ] announcing america's favorite cereal is now honey nut cheerios! yup, america's favorite.

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welcome back to "morning joe." joining us now, host of "the daily rundown," chuck todd. let's dive right in. the first question, should congress raise the debt ceiling? >> what's interesting, 28-31

saying raise it. before you explain it. why is this question important? it's the first time where just asking the straight question where raise it means don't raise it. that tells you this education campaign, whatever you want to call it, the attention brought to it, that the people making the argument for raising the debt ceiling are winning the argument. you can look at the way it moved from april on the screen there to now. so, that, to me, right at the beginning told you who was winning the messaging war. >> it's dramatic. 58% of the people agree with the president's deficit reduction plan even though we don't know the specifics. only 36% agree with the republican plan. so once again, chuck, the president wins this debate. >> that ee's right. it was the bully pulpit. in many ways, messaging on this debate in the last three weeks, the president beat republicans in congress in a debate on

public opinion. if you look at the history of this presidency, that's the first time this ever happened. usually, in the policy fights with congress, which drag him down into the muck and swamp of washington, he ends up on the losing end of this in public opinion. not in this case. it's not even close. he's got everybody with him on this in some form of another except the tea party. even when you explain debt ceiling, the more you explain it, the more positive the numbers get, the only group that is strongly against raising the debt ceiling even after explanation is tea party. it's that way across the board in our poll. >> chuck, 62% say republicans should compromise and raise taxes. that's an interesting amount, in my opinion. >> it is. again, it's democrats obviously say this. independents say this. only the tea party -- even

non-tea party republicans are split on this question about 50/50 on the idea of compromising on taxes and not compromising. only the core tea party is saying in a 3-1 ratio, no, stick to your guns and to the pledge. >> on the other side of the ledger and proving how hard it's going to be for long term debt reduction, they say democrats should compromise on cuts to social security and medicare. >> no. the majority say don't compromise. >> that's what i'm saying. in the long run, this is going to be tough to explain why we have to do that for long term. i'm sorry. the majority say do not cut. >> right. it goes to the david brooks point yesterday in the new york times. if you want to be politically crass about the debate, you could set a -- you could divide the democratic party for half a

generation if you get a democratic president to agree to what could be dramatic entitlement cuts or dramatic entitlement reform and split the democratic base. our poll shows it is politically harder for democrats to do what they are doing in the long run than it is for republicans. the middle of this country will forgive republicans on taxes faster than the middle or center left part of the country will forgive democrats for caving on social security. it's just the raw politics. republicans could be sort of luring democrats and obama into dividing their own party. yet, it is a smaller core of the republican party that's driving this debate. >> chuck, that would be down the road. ha about right now at the moment? the number displayed on the screen, the public doesn't like

it. they say they want something done. what does that do within the republican caucus in terms of picking up votes for, you know, among tea party members? >> i don't know if it does anything among tea party members. a lot of these folks aren't worried about re-election. they are not thinking about it on that front. yesterday, when you saw, it was a rush of rankin senators on either side. the republicans who haven't been on the deal process said positive things about gang of six. they have been saying how frustrated they are with the tea party and how frustrated they are with house republicans. this is a case where the senate republicans finally got -- it's almost like they were sweating outside and they finally got their air-conditioning. they just went in and said ah, yes, i'm for this. enough. that's where you are seeing a way to send a message to the

house republicans. guys, guys, let's do this big deal. this is what we want to do. this is what -- if you look at the polling, it's what the public wanlts them to do. >> let's look at president obama's approval rating. 47% approve and 48% disapprove. >> they are not good numbers for the president. yet, look at all the -- look what's going on with the debt debate and he's clobbering them in this argument. it should be a big warning side to the republicans on how they could lose the messaging war. >> chuck, i don't know about you, i would take those numbers in a second. >> it's a great number. >> given the right track, the wrong track, unemployment, the sagging economy, the chaos of washington, d.c., give me a 47% approval rating knowing i spent $1 billion in advertising over the next 12 months. i'm sitting pretty.

right? >> pretty is relative. he's certainly -- look, job approval and your overall number is a fascinating point that our pollsters point out. the approval rating of a president in an election year and the percentage of vote he gets, track pretty closely by the time a campaign comes. if you are looking at 47 he has to find three more points. a billion dollars to find three percentage points shouldn't be too difficult. >> steve, a billion dollars and michele bachmann and mitt romney running against you. >> give me michele bachmann. i go to bed every night and pray they take michele bachmann. with unemployment over 9% and have over 40% approval rating, i think you are right. i would go to bed happy with that. >> no doubt about it. let's look at the gop primary.

the numbers are up now. mitt romney looks comfortable right now. given 30% early. rudy giuliani had 30% last year as well. 40 years ago at this time, when john mccain was in single digits. rock knee's got the money, the name id. >> what do you think of tim pawlenty? >> he doesn't seem to have a strong challenger. >> what's interesting, this is the third straight poll that we have had a different person surging into second place. in april, it was the trump debacle. he surged and he almost caught romney. then last month, herman cain is the guy that surged and surprised everybody. then this month -- sort of hangs around. sits there at 30 and the question is, is that a strong 30 or is that a weak 30?

you can make a strong argument in both cases to say that -- i mean it's stronger than rudy was at this point, i would argument it's still fragile. >> chuck todd, thank you so much. we'll see you at 9::00 on "the daily rundown." coming up, best selling author. >> it's exciting. did you see his biog gi. >> it makes me want to buy thebook. it's next on "morning joe." every day, all around the world,

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for greater access to all the things you want, whenever you want them. it's the at&t network... and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. and i count on social security. here's what i'm not... a pushover. right now, some in washington want to make a deal cutting the social security and medicare benefits we worked for. with billions in waste and loopholes, how could they look at us? maybe we seem like an easy target... until you realize... there are 50 million of us. [ female announcer ] tell the politicians: cut waste and loopholes, not our benefits. look, joe. >> mika -- >> it's a spy thrill. >> he's an international man of mystery. >> his color is -- it must be a

good book. i'm going to buy it. >> it's not as big as the 16-page pull-out you guys did. >> it changed america. >> it did. >> best selling author, danielle sill ving is with us. >> my wife lives by these books. >> she lives for these books. >> they are amazing. >> buy that, put it on my kindle. it's so easy to do. it begs the question, having read several of the books, why do we have to do the publicity tours. >> what are you doing here? >> to come spend time with you guys. i got nervous when mommy and daddy were on the road. you weren't here monday, i got nervous.

yesterday you weren't. they held down the fort admirably. >> you said it before, if you don't like our show, you can in part blame daniel. >> i noticed from the beginning. i just cheer up every morning when i see you guys. >> it's so moving. so tell us about the book. >> it is my 14th book, which is something i can't quite wrap my head around. it is my 11th book to feature gabriel. he's got an interesting cover job. he's one of the world's finest art restorer. >> a spy, assassin and art restorer. >> what are you laughing at?

>> nothing. it's a great ad. i love the cover. anyway, what is he recruited to do this time? >> interrupting me, how am i supposed to tell you? he's recruited by the cia to break a new terrorist network that is led by an american born cleric from yemen who wants to be the new bin laden. due to the fact that i write hopelessly close to my deadline, i was able to incorporate elements of the arab spring and in fact bin laden's death into this novel. it was still on my desk on may 1st when he was killed. >> that's incredible. >> he's referenced on numerous occasions. while the rest of washington was racing down to the white house to celebrate bin laden's overdue demise, i was sitting in bed rewriting all the relevant

passages. >> is that one of the reasons you love it? >> what was your publisher thinking about? may 1st? >> they must have been melting down on you. >> little tight. little tight. little nervous, but i made all my deadlines. it's changed, you know. book industry has changed. we can turn books around really quickly. it's not like the old days. i wish i was one of those guys who had three or four finished manuscripts in the drawer. it's not me. >> do you read a hard copy or a kindle? >> how do you read, dan? >> how do i read real books? i read hard copy books. i will download a book in a pinch when i need it for research, but i still prefer to read -- >> pages. >> pages. i was on an amtrak train the other day. i walked the entire length of

the train and i did not see one person reading a book. >> they were all reading -- >> i got an e-mail the other day who said i have your list on my phone. first condolences, but people are reading differently. i think this will be the first year where we sort of break the buck so to speak, where i will probably outsell in kindle. >> online. >> other ebook platforms than hard cover. that's the dramatic change. >> unbelievable. you were involved in the media in your past life. what do you think about what's going on in britain, the murdoch scandal? >> i think it is hard for us to imagine the profound shock to the system that this has been for great britain. i spent a lot of time there. my character lives there so we spend a lot of time in england. england is going through something of a social crisis, there's an epidemic of crime and public drunkenness in the

country. they think their culture has been coarsing a great deal. miliband made an impassioned speech yesterday and they need to wake up and get things right in the country. they are going through a difficult period. >> daniel silva, the book is "portrait of a spy." fabulous. we'll be right back. i love that my daughter's part fish. but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry ! specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team. and i only need to talk to one person about her care. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

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♪ >> this is the most humble day of my career. james and i would like to say how sorry we are for what has happened. especially with regard to listening to the voice mail of victims of crime. but saying sorry is not enough. things must be put right. no excuses. >> good morning. it is 8:00 on the east coast, another hot start to the day. welcome back to "morning joe." back with us on set in new york, we have mike barnicle and steve ratner, also with us, tina brown. >> there's only one thing to talk about. >> what? i don't see what's so surprising

about that. >> not if you know wendi. >> i thought she was great. >> oh, my gosh, her reaction was so much faster than everybody else. not only this, she goes back, hits the guy, falls down, gets up and then when he was leaving, he had the shaving cream all over him. the reason why is because she shoved it in his face. she's amazing. >> she just was so instinctive and so wendi-like. >> well, look, everybody else is flinching and moving away. >> she does not flinch. >> my god, she does not flinch. >> she wanted to protect her man. she went for him. i thought that was great. >> thank god someone did. >> talk about her. you all know her well. tell me about wendi. >> she is one of the most driven, focused, toughest people i've ever met. >> she's very direct and i find

her kind of beguiling. she goes at it in a direct way. >> she will come out and tell you what's on her mind. get right in your face on whatever she's thinking about. >> we did an event together and she's launching a art show. who's the guy we're paying? we better be nice to him. it's appealing. i can see why he likes her. without any pretension at all, no social nonsense. >> she also has limitless ambition. she started out in a house in china with a dirt floor and no electricity. now she's married to rupert murdoch. >> she's having a great time with his money but having -- she's giving him a great time with his money. she has brought him much more into the world. >> she's been good for him. >> she got him to wear black

shirts and dye his hair for awhile. >> she's giving him a lot of fun. >> this is not a fair question to ask tina. that's why i'm going to ask you. how did james do? while she was lungeing, he sort of flinched. >> i find him mba speak. he doesn't have any irony about himself at all. he's very humanless. i don't think he has any sort of staying power in the end. >> i understand though that the father absolutely loves the son. >> the father -- >> dedicated to him. >> the father wants a dynasty. for a time it looked like it was lo locklin, now it's james. he dropped out and joined a rock band. >> that's the kind of thing privileged kids can do. i don't think he's appealing.

elizabeth is the smartest, the daughter. she of course is married to matthew freud. he's the p.r. svengali. >> i think the jury is out on that. i don't think we know the answer to that. the man controls 39% of the voting stock of this company. he has $5 billion worth of stock. he's so focused. i think it's impossible for james to become ceo at this moment. i think this has to evolve, but i don't think it's out of the question. >> you think the murdochs can survive this? >> i don't know. this is out of the play book. you've got a guy who owns 39% of the company but you do have a board that includes a number of distinguished, independent directors. >> and all of his friends. >> half of them, plus or minus are his friends. >> have any of them said we have to investigate this? >> not completely, no. on the one hand, tom perkins,

has been very supportive of rupert. he's the lead director. at the same time, the board hired its own independent counsel. you can't just roll over. >> rupert's -- >> there's so much money at the same time too, mika. they're not going to bow and scrape to rupert murdoch unless they think that's the best play in the long run. >> you saw the stock price go up after the hearing. he's always had supine boards. he will squeak by on this, i don't think james will end up being ceo. they have so many questions that are screaming to be answered. at the end of the day when they apologize so abjectly for the whole phone tapping, they are paying the legal costs of the guy who hacked the phones. how do you get out of that? >> both of you know rupert murdoch very well.

i spoke to somebody yesterday. everybody around this table and the country knows who said rupert murdoch controls every part of his empire. i'm a friend of his. i know him. they're not paying out tens of million dollars in settlements without rupert murdoch knowing. this is one of his friends laughing about it saying not only did he know about the phone hacking calls, he probably listened to him. that's how involved rupert is in this company. >> there's no question that rupert is an incredibly hands-on manager. maybe i'm being naive. i would be shocked if he lied in front of parliament. at the very least, one of my impressions yesterday is he didn't seem to want to know what was going on while it was going on. he seemed to be okay, it's not my problem kind of thing. i think that's embalm attic of his style. >> i have to beg to differ.

you remember the gangster who pretended to be nuts and used to walk around in his bedroom slippers. i felt with rupert it was as he was, seeming to be this out of it guy who is now removed from his empire. he is utterly hands on, i don't think to the point where he would listen to the detail of phone hacking. he wouldn't need to or particularly want to. when he talked about how he phones the editor of "news of the world" on saturday night and asked if he ever asked about the $600,000 pay i don't havoff, he didn't ask about that, he would absolutely know about that. when he said what's doing? he would say what's in the paper the next day. the second question would always be how did you get it? he likes process. >> you think he didn't tell the truth? >> i think -- let's put it this way, he was very careful to be remote from the truth in the sense that he's the overlord.

he doesn't get involved. this is the culture rupert created over 30 years. it may be that in detail he's not as engaged now. but he absolutely understands what his guys do. >> we should talk about the son because how could the son not have been. you bring your son up in the ranks of a company and all of a sudden he's completely untouched by that? that seems impossible to me. let's listen to rupert murdoch testifying yesterday. >> did you close it because of the criminality? >> yes, we felt ashamed at what happened. >> mr. murdoch, do you accept ultimately that you are responsible for this whole fiasco? >> no. >> you are not responsible? who is responsible? >> the people that i trusted to run it and then maybe the people they trusted. >> the buck stops with him. >> come on now. >> mike barnicle, he is, as tina said, people that know him, he's extraordinarily hands-on.

i think my friend was being a bit facetious when he said rupert was listening to the phone hacking. if this was a conduct by "news of the world" from piers morgan forward through these people, he certainly couldn't have been ignorant of that, could he? >> rupert murdoch is a man of many parts. he does not play the victim very well at all. he is not a victim here. yesterday, there were two elements of that story that are totally, totally preposterous. one is the idea that rupert murdoch and rebekah brooks never asked a reporter, hey, great story, where did you get it? that is so preposterous you would fall out of your chair. tina is an editor. i'm an editor, it is thoroughly

preposterous. the second element that is totally preposterous is the idea that rupert murdoch sat there at the head of this company that he has his hands over all over every day and didn't know about millions of dollars to shut people up. that's an insult to our intelligence. >> either way it's bad, if he didn't know, he's completely disconnected, but he did. >> steve, you still think he may not have known? >> i put it very simply. i think the coverup is always worse than the crime. to go in front of parliament and lied i think would probably be his biggest mistake of this whole crisis. i'm prepared to believe he didn't know what he said he didn't know. my takeaway from it was that you had a very elderly man who seemed -- maybe you think he was posturing, but i think he's beaten down and a shadow of his former self at the moment.

>> i think of course he's shattered by it. it's emotionally complicated for him because of his son. he cannot throw his son overboard. that makes it an emotionally complicated thing. i also think at a point where he has become so global, so remote from the thrust of the press coverage, he is really experiencing for the first time really in his life, although he's had a controversial time in the press what it feels like to be a victim of the blood spoefrt tabloids. he is now in a position where he is bombarded with abuse and unfairness, i'm sure, at times. here's rebekah brooks complaining that she had a horse she shared with cameron. get used to it because this is what she piloted year after year. she never cared. there are good pieces describing the brutality of working there, get the story, come back, make it work. if you haven't got it, get it. what does that mean?

they go off and invent quotes. they phone hack and they get under tremendous stress to do so. >> my point is whether rupert knew or didn't, he presided over a culture in which this happened. he didn't particularly want to know if he didn't know, i think that's a problem for the board ultimately. what they do, we'll see. >> how can you be the best person to deal with something like this if you were the person presiding over something like this? which makes the very clip that we ran make no sense. at all. >> let's go to washington right now. >> really quick because there's news out of washington as well. duelling debt plans are taking center stage in congress in a vote that was largely along party lines. the cut, cap and balance bill last night. afterward, ohio congressman jim jordan along with jason chaffitz pressed them to take a vote. >> let's have the senate bring up this plan and have the vote.

what are they afraid of? if you follow the conventional wisdom, you never get anything done. bring it up, let's have the vote. >> if the senate lines up in punt formation, i think you'll hear people say block that punt because this is a plan that will solve the underlying problem. that's why you had such broad support here. >> did the gop push cut, cap and balance is expected to fail. from the bipartisan gang of six is gathering support in the other chamber. republican senator tom coburn rejoined it yesterday. the package would reduce the deficit by $3.7 trillion, cut taxes by $1.5 trillion over ten years, implement $500 billion in immediate cuts, new revenue and simplify the tax code to three brackets. president obama appeared at yesterday's white house briefing to praise the proposal saying it

was "broadly consistent with his deficit goals" he urged lawmakers to use the proposal to move forward to a final deal. >> we now have a bipartisan group of senators who agree with that balanced approach and we've got the american people who agree with that balanced approach. my hope and what i will be urging speaker boehner, nancy pelosi as well as leader reid and mitch mcconnell is that they, tomorrow, are prepared to start talking turkey and actually getting down to the hard business of crafting a plan that can move this forward. >> wow! >> steve, talk about this gang of six proposal. does it -- the president like it is. tom coburn likes it, very conservative guy. the gang of six is involved with it. what do you think? >> i think it's a terrific step forward if this could get

traction. this can be the grand bargain the president hoped for. it's similar to the bowles-simpson proposal which was worked out on a bipartisan basis. it's balanced. it increases revenue by a trillion dollars over ten years out of the 3.7 trillion. it's a balance between spending cuts and revenue increases. it does simplify the tax code. it does get rid of a lot of loopholes. it's a terrific plan. the question is now whether politically it can overcome the republicans who are on a mission. >> if it passes the senate, mike, then the chances are good that in the house, you are going to find enough democrats and republicans in the middle to get this thing passed? >> why do i think though, that the gang of six proposal is going to mean that there's going to be a short term increase in the debt ceiling and they're going to say this is so good and complex at the same time we're going to have time to study it. >> yes. >> that's the bigger problem

with this proposal is that in the end, they just kick, as the president said, they kick the can down the road. >> it was interesting that tom coburn, he who is known as dr. no, because he blocked 500 bills, he comes in, i mean i would love to know who beat him. >> you don't beat tom coburn at anything. >> tom coburn is terrific on this stuff. he's been one of the few republicans from the hard right who has been willing to stand up and say we've got to have a balanced approach. joe, you're right, and mike's right, you can not implement this bill in the 12 days we have left until the expiration, but what they could do, if they wanted is a short term extension, a month or something like that, which you could flush the bill out and get it done. >> the president is going to have to do that. whether it's one or two months, he's going to have to, because if you're going to make these

changes by the committee chairman and chair women in the senate house since they fix this. >> these are the most sweeping budget and tax changes since reagan at least, maybe more. these are dramatic, and it would be wonderful if we could make progress on them. >> the tom coburn thing is kind of interesting. you keep hearing from certain people in washington and in the white house that there is a very strong relationship between senator coburn and president obama stemming from the days together in the senate. there seems to be some indication that the president has reached out to senator coburn over the last week to ten days to try to get him more actively involved in this and he jumped in. >> shows again how the personal relationships still are so incredibly important. >> they do matter. having somebody who's not afraid of party leaders and tom coburn, i can tell you, going back to his house days, has -- he's a conservative guy, but he's a

fiscal conservative, and he's just a b.s. detecter. >> good way of putting it. >> as conservative as he is since he first came to cross in '94, republican leaders have loathed him. >> because you can't tell what he's going to do? >> he's not afraid of them and if, let's say, grover norquist, a man a lot of people fear in washington says we can't raise taxes, tom wants to balance the budget, and, you know, that's the one thing that's sort of been underreported in this story, really quickly and we have to break. when we came in '94, there were two groups. we all hated taxes but there were those of us who made that the center of everything else and the other half of us who said yes, we hate taxes but we hate deficits and debts more. >> coming up next, actor john

goodman joins the set. the dow, with the biggest one day rally of the year, first, let's go to bill karins with a check of the forecast. >> i wish i had better news, but this heat wave kins for so much of the country, rockies to the east coast, canada down to the gulf. today, in new england, we get a little break, 92. at least you don't have the high humidity levels. that comes later. 101 in kansas city. 99 in minneapolis. only the pacific northwest and the immediate west coast are the only areas avoiding this heat wave. washington, d.c., we can go as high as 102 on friday. that would be incredible. also charlotte, you are not getting out of it, 95 to 100. my friends at st. louis, 100 degrees four days in a row. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. ♪

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♪ >> if i were you, i would keep my money. she'll never beat you in court. she doesn't have a case. >> what is this? some kind of negotiating ploy or are you angling to push ms. parsons out so you can take this case over yourself? >> i have my own cases to worry about. >> i'm not interested in playing games. this is my final offer. >> this isn't my case. i'm in no position to make a deal. >> then do me a solid and pass that along.

>> wow! >> 24 past the hour. that was the scene from the new season of damages. joining us now, one of the show's stars, john goodman. >> this is huge. thank you so much for being with us. we are talking about new orleans. you still spend a good bit of time, most of your time in new orleans. >> whenever i ain't working, i hang around the house being underfoot to the wife. >> how's the city coming along? >> i think it's coming along great. i think it can always improve, but before there was a spirit of the same old thing. now it's just let's iron this out. let's make this work for everybody. it seems to be improving. there's a lot of filming going on down there. more in louisiana than i think in california. >> how exciting. >> it is exciting. >> the school system turned upside down obviously by this. >> yeah. >> there are some reforms going on. >> there are. like i said before, it seems this time, people seem to be

taking things seriously with the police, with the schools and it's slow and it's going to take a long time, but, you know, i think we're going to get there. great city. >> we've been down there, mike, when we went down there, one of the most exciting things is there were kids, young kids from across america who, instead of working after getting out of college, said i want to volunteer and go down to new orleans. i've been going to new orleans for 40 years. there was something different and exciting about it. >> you've been alive for 40 years. >> 48 years. 40 of them, i went down there. but a real excitement there, people wanting to make a difference. >> they have. the school system has now been taken over by a larger board. they're incorporating all sorts of improvements. digger phelps, we get the high school gym built. you are talking about more and more films made in new orleans. the hbo thing. does that bring stuff in?

>> it brings money in, especially focuses a lot on the music of new orleans, which is the backbone, which is the left hand of the piano. it really keeps the city alive, because it's always innovative and fresh. there's always something going on, but the tramay focuses the spotlight on that. >> that's great. we're excited about it, but there's something better. >> i was just going to ask him. >> by a country mile, baby. by a country mile right here. damages. >> it's one of the best tv shows ever. >> it's changed america. it's changed the way we think, the way we live. >> before "damages" which is on direct tv, which is great, before "damages" across the years when you walked through an airport call you walter from the

big lebowski. >> that one i'll take. they usually scream it. i love that movie. >> they're playing the scene. they're playing the coffee shop scene. >> so talking about "damages" how exciting it is for you. >> first of all, you shoot in new york. the sets are over at the brooklyn navy yard at this great new studio. and the writing is great. >> yeah. >> you get the great new york actors. it's a no-brainer. you show up. they do your work for you and you look good. that's what it is to me. >> they make you look good. >> how is glenn close to work with. >> she's terrific. i've only had two scenes with her. i pretty much laughed my ass off the whole time. dillon baker, great cast. >> great luxuries of new york. there's so many great actors

here with broadway and everything else, it's just an embarrassment of riches. you show up and you can look good. you're like, man, i'm surrounded by professionals. makes you better. >> i can flop and take a nap and still look good. >> who are the folks you wanted to work with? who's the bucket list for john goodman? >> an actual bucket. >> he loves working with buckets, by the way. >> robert duval, i always thought he was the best thing going. >> he's one of my favorites. >> russell crow, meryl streep again. kevin kline again. >> you've worked with so many. >> it's always good to say again. >> the glenn close character, when you watch the series, at least to me as a viewer, there's a subdued ma leaf lens to her character. when you're playing opposite of her -- >> she's a lawyer. >> exactly. >> say no more.

>> yeah. it's great, because my character is ma leaf lent in his own way. he thinks he's doing the lord's work. he's actually greedy and short fingered. >> it's always the script though. >> absolutely. like i say, when you got that, you don't have to work much. it's cruising, which i like. i'm the laziest man you know. >> it's working for you. talk about the writers. who are some of the writers who make the series work? >> the kessler brothers, glen and todd who also directed. it got to the point where at the end, they were so busy filling out the details. we would get a scenario of the week's scenes, what was going to happen, we get the dialogue like two days or the night before. it was interesting. >> oh, my goodness. really? >> ripped from the headlines. ripped from the fax machine. >> talk about, because obviously, we've shown one of your movies, "brother where

art,0art thou" talk about the difference between that, where we're doing that in 15 minutes and a movie. >> sometimes on a film, you'll get that. i wouldn't shoot this yet. >> seriously? >> we can improvise that. >> the second part. >> sometimes you get that on a film where they go in and have flushed things out. >> what is the difference between tv -- >> time. >> stanley said that tv is the new movie. it used to be -- did you go see "butch cassidy" and everybody talked about that. now it's talking about "damages" or "mad men." it's tv. >> with seinfeld, with "all in the family" now with the basic cable shows which are always through the year-round, there's a new summer season of things you want to see.

>> never stops. >> as far as working goes though, do you prefer one over the other? is tv different than movies? as far as the working and the schedule? >> you know, i had a great schedule on "damages" i only worked a few days a week. when i did show, it was always interesting so i always wanted to go to work. it's the same on a feature too. it's bleeding in one from the other. we're on the satellite so we can say whatever we want. sometimes gratuitously and sometimes not. >> no, we really can't. >> i'm not going to. >> on "damages." >> we have a seven second delay. >> on "damages" it's on direct tv, so they -- you can say whatever they want. >> whatever the blank they want. >> with film and television.

>> it's on audience network, with all the channels, the thought was it would dilute the product, instead you can find great shows in hard to find places and once you find it, you are set. >> if you still want to watch the kardashians, god bless you. >> please don't. >> i want to say something about the right, honorable mr. cameron who is looking especially orange today. >> he's as orange as mr. boehner. >> that would be tan. >> oompa loompa. >> have you been watching? >> yeah. i don't want to wind up looking like a cartoon in the "new york post." >> but? >> it's great to see the people finally get outraged about something. politicians come out under the rock of fear, because that's a scary guy. those are scary tabloids over there. >> that sums it up.

>> the son has naked cartoons and stuff like that, nev a naked comic strip. >> you listen to what hugh grant said and what other actors and actresses have said. jude law having his phone messages hacked while he's going through a divorce with cena miller. it's so extraordinarily personal. they've been able to do it with impunity. you look at the scandal sheets over there, it's horrifying. >> the bar got lower every year. it was frightening to go over there and work and look at some of the stuff going on. people don't respond to it. this is the norm. don't people get outraged about this stuff? >> the way paparazzi exist in the united states and europe, is that a whole different level of scrutiny? >> i've seen the paparazzi worse over here, but i'm nobody and i

got followed around in london, but i wasn't doing anything. >> they said enough with you, right? >> no. it's scary. i mean, it is frightening to get on a certain level, and i don't think it's going to abate anything over there, but i just wonder how much they've done over here. >> that is the question. >> there's another tabloid culture here thriving and the bar seems to be lowered every year too. >> one of the larger issues out of it, i would submit, is the toxic atmosphere that it creates. who would ever want to run for public office? >> absolutely. >> who is the "new york daily news" editor that said tell it to sweeney? it's great if you don't assume sweeney is a drunken wife beater with too many house pets, a drooler. let's keep it creative and intelligent. you don't have to talk down to

people. that's my two cents. >> the bar is pretty low. >> it has been lowered. thank you so much for being here. we greatly appreciate it. >> john goodman, thank you so much. >> thanks for having me. thanks, walter. >> you're out of your element, barnicle. >> you can watch season four of "damages" at 10:00 p.m. on direct tv. >> jim watches it all the time. >> loves it. >> my wife does too. >> really? i got to get into it. coming up next, "business before the bell," also the story behind wenti murdoch who had to defend her husband. >> that is a volleyball swat. >> that's what a wife does. >> that's a volleyball spike. >> will this effect wendy's hamburger chain. >> i think you spell it different. >> interesting question. we'll be back. i love that my daughter's part fish.

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♪ >> welcome back to "morning joe." let's get a check on "business before the bell" with cnbc's melissa france. she's live at the new york stock exchange. so much going on right now. how is the debt news affecting the dow? >> the debt news just stocks

spiked on it yesterday. i was on the air when president obama came out yesterday and said there might be a deal and stocks immediately began to soar. the dow had its best day, 202 points. the nasdaq up 2.2%. we got apple news after the bell. their results were blockbuster. they sold 20 million iphones, 9.3 million ipads. profits doubled. they have $76 billion in cash just lying around the office, just sitting on the books. >> melissa, this is such a remarkable story as the rest of america's economic machine seems to be sputtering. apple has been on an explosive path over, god, the past decade. >> it's really true. it really proves if you have a product that's terrific, people want to pay for it. they're willing to go out and spend their money. even as the competition closes in on the tablet market and more competition in smart phones,

they still continue to have huge results. there's more good news. american airlines put in the largest order for new airplanes ever. 460 planes. it can go up to 900 planes. it's incredible because it's going to be $40 billion, the largest in history, really bullish for manufacturing, really bullish for economy, really bullish for travel. that's positive news as well. >> is that a buy with boeing. >> it's boeing and air bus. they bought from boeing in the past, air bus is in this deal as well. that's competition are fr outside america. >> does this tell us something about airlines finally figuring out a way to be profitable by losing my bags and charging me for them? >> it's a really good business if they lose your bags, they sell them to someone else, they charge you on the other end. they can make a huge profit. that's not true. >> you kind of suspect that

sometimes, don't you? >> yes, yes. >> airlines are having -- airlines are doing better now than say ten years ago? it seemed like a business where nobody could make a profit. >> they're having a pretty good time. they did better last quarter. fuel prices are going down a little bit. there's never an empty seat on the plane. they figured out how to run the business better. they're not out of the woods yet but this is positive. >> the very things that drive me the craziest about airlines, replacing the md-80s with regional jets, shoving us in the back. >> it's how to make money. >> let's fly privately from now on. you have your own jet, right? >> my lord, i wish i did. >> melissa, call him the job creator. that's his label. >> i like it. >> job creator. very good. >> melissa, thank you so much. >> have a great day. >> coming up next, defending

robert murdoch, we're going to take a closer look at his wife, former volleyball star, wendi murdoch. i know you're worried about making your savings last and having enough income when you retire. that's why i'm here -- to help come up with a plan and get you on the right path. i have more than a thousand fidelity experts working with me so that i can work one-on-one with you. it's your green line. but i'll be there every step of the way. call or come in and talk with us today. -why? -why? -why? [ female announcer ] we all age differently. roc® multi-correxion 4 zone moisturizer with roc®retinol and antioxidants. lines, wrinkles, and sun damage will fade. roc multi-correxion. correct what ages you.

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♪ >> rupert's son james also had a distraction behind him. now, right behind james is joel kline, the guy now touching his nose. he's an executive vice president at news corp. he's in charge of the internal investigation, and he started digging for clues in his nose. then he started going for his head, and ears and examining the pickings or the finding, as they are called in an evidentiary hearing. if this goes on any longer, he will not have a head left. that right there, that's a guy

who should get a monkey. >> this is governor rick perry. i'm inviting you to join your fellow americans in a day of prayer and fasting on behalf of our nation, with the economy in trouble, communities in crisis. people adrift in a sea of moral relativism. we need got's help. >> governor perry knows that prayer is the only way to fix our problems. as he told a group of donors, with the tough challenges facing america, it's time to just hand it over to god, and say god, you're going to have to fix this. inspiring words. perry has looked at our problems squarely in the eye and said, "i got nothing. jump in anytime here." >> pretty funny. 48 past. wendi murdoch comes to her husband's rescue. she spiked his face. >> pretty incredible.

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self-described comedian went after the tycoon with a shaving cream pie. andrea mitchell explains. >> reporter: she had her husband's back from the beginning, leaning forward as if willing rupert on. when it counted, leaping forward, a former volleyball player, protecting her 80-year-old husband from the pie throwing attacker. >> watching so carefully, she was the first to be able to get up, before the police or anyone else, swatd away this aggressor. >> she is rupert murdoch's glamorous chinese born third wife, a huge asset to his businesses in china and in social and charitable circles in the u.s. she is a celebrity among celebrities, a standout among political and business elites. 38 years younger than the media barren, she first met him as an

executive in one of his tv operations. married for 12 years, the marriage was controversial. rupert murdoch's 102-year-old mother called her daughter in law a designing woman, especially when wendi challenged her husband's adult children fighting so her two young daughters would also get a stake in the company. murdoch with charlie rose. >> we have children, we try to combine the best of chinese and best american method to teach them. >> reporter: there is history, coming to the u.s. on a student visa, marrying her first husband, a man with, his wife, had sponsored wendi as first reported in the "wall street journal." >> wendi who was a teenager at the time had an affair with the father, her sort of adopted father, and the two of them ended up getting married for long enough for her to get a green card. >> reporter: now she is a force herself. last week releasing a movie she's produced for her husband's 20th century fox. >> she's a powerful advocate for

her husband, for his interests and for herself. >> reporter: a powerful defender of her husband. >> ms. murdoch, your watch is a very good left hook. >> as the whole world has now seen. >> that was andrea mitchell reporting. up next, what if anything did we learn today? >> i want her behind me. [ male announcer ] get ready for the left lane. the volkswagen autobahn for all event is back. right now, get a great deal on new volkswagen models, including the cc. and every volkswagen includes scheduled carefree maintenance. that's the power of german engineering. right now lease the volkswagen cc sport for just $289 a month. ♪ visit vwdealer.com today.

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♪ >> welcome back to "morning joe." it is time to talk about what we learned today. mika, i already know you're going to be talking about the speaker of the house. >> i'm not talking about ours, i'm talking about theirs. >> mr. speaker, roll it. >> what the public thinks of our behavior. order. and stop it without delay. >> order. >> i'm going to say from now on to you stop it without delay. >> without delay. what did you learn, peter? >> i learned wendi murdoch and manny pacquiao in vegas. >> i learned once again that john goodman is one of the great underrated actors. >> yes. >> good guy. >> and in a lot of great stuff. "damages." all the films. really underrated. >> so many great t